


The Mystery of the Missing Knitwear

by RuArcher (Coriesocks)



Series: Scorbus drabble challenge [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Thorne & Rowling
Genre: Boys Kissing, Fluff, Getting Together, Light Angst, M/M, Weasley Jumpers, scorbus drabble challenge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-04
Updated: 2019-05-04
Packaged: 2020-02-21 15:08:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,939
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18704812
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Coriesocks/pseuds/RuArcher
Summary: Scorpius has lost the jumper Molly Weasley knitted for him, and only Albus knows the truth about where it is.





	The Mystery of the Missing Knitwear

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the prompt "Stolen Weasley Jumper" as part of the [Scorbus Drabble Challenge](https://scorbusdefensesquad.tumblr.com/post/184255801911/scorbus-drabble-challenge)
> 
> Thank you to Littlerose13 for the speedy beta!

Albus watched from a safe distance as Scorpius tossed every item of clothing out of his wardrobe and then methodically picked each thing up again, shaking it out, then fitting it carefully over a hanger before slotting it back in place. It was the second time he'd been through this process, so they both knew what he was looking for wasn't there, but Scorpius was nothing if not thorough.

"I can't find it, I can't find it!" Scorpius muttered, a frantic edge to his voice. 

Albus sighed and pushed up from the bed. "Don't stress about it, Scorp. It's not a big deal," he said in what was hopefully a nice, reassuring tone.

Although clearly not reassuring enough. 

"Not a big deal!?” Scorpius shrieked. “Albus! I need it! Whatever will she think of me if I turn up without it?"

"Honestly? She'll probably not even notice. I won't be wearing mine."

"Yes, but you're family--you get a free pass! And anyway, she sees you all the time. This is only my second time visiting and if I don't turn up wearing the gift she lovingly handmade especially for me, then she'll think I've rejected it! And thus, rejected her!" 

"I really don't think--" 

Scorpius turned to his chest of drawers, frantically emptying each one out onto his bed and then folding and putting items back one at a time. Albus swallowed thickly and looked away. He knew Scorpius wouldn't find what he was looking for no matter how hard he searched. And the reason he knew this was because the knitwear in question--Scorpius’ apparently beloved Weasley jumper--was currently stuffed in the bottom of his trunk. 

He hadn't meant to keep hold of it; he'd just sort of … borrowed it over Easter because Scorp was going away with his dad and wouldn’t be around, and Albus had just wanted something _Scorpius-y_ with him at home so he wouldn’t feel too lonely… But then James had found it under Albus’ pillow and threatened to tell everyone, and in the resultant struggle, one sleeve had ripped clean off. He’d planned to fix it and return it, but he hadn’t been able to master the darning charm he’d found in the dusty copy of _Handy Homekeeping Spells for the House-Proud Witch_ his dad had, and he couldn’t ask anyone else for help without raising questions about why he’d smuggled Scorpius’ jumper home in the first place.

So, he’d returned to school with the ripped jumper, and every intention of learning the charm so he could fix it, but Scorpius was always around so he hadn’t yet got the chance. He honestly thought he’d have more time to return it. How was he supposed to know his gran would randomly invite Scorpius for dinner over half term. And anyway, it was practically Summer--who wore a thick, knitted jumper in the summer? 

"Why don't you just tell her it's in the wash or something?" Albus offered after Scorpius threw himself down on the bed with a mournful wail.

"I can't do that! It would be dishonest! If she found out I lied, it would be worse than the snub of not wearing it at all. I've looked everywhere. There's only one other explanation-- it's been stolen!"

 _Oh, bloody fuck._ Albus cringed. He knew that tone of voice. Nothing good ever happened when Scorpius used that tone of voice. But there was still a small chance he could distract Scorpius before things went too far. "It has to be somewhere…" he tried feebly.

"Where, though? I've looked everywhere! There's a thief amongst us, Albus. I'm sure of it. Jumpers don't just get up and relocate themselves. Well, unless they've been charmed, but that would be a whole other crime entirely, and if someone has been charming my clothes to wander off around the castle, then McGonagall will be receiving a strongly worded letter from my father!"

"Scorp, please. Gran really won’t care if you don’t wear it. Maybe someone accidentally tidied it away somewhere?” He shrugged and picked up an old quill from his desk, dragging it through his fingers and smoothing down the barbs that had separated. “It’ll turn up later, I’m sure.” _If you ever give me five minutes alone to learn the right charm,_ he tacked on silently.

Scorpius huffed and plucked the quill from Albus’ hand, setting it neatly back down on the desk. "I’ve never once seen anyone in our dorm tidy away anything, and the House Elves have never once mixed up any of our laundry in the six years we’ve been here, so it’s obvious someone has swiped it, and I’ll not rest until it’s found.” He smacked his hand on the desk. “It’s a matter of pride, Albus! Come on,” he urged, grabbing Albus by the wrist, “our roommates will still be in the common room. We can ask them if they've stolen it."

 _Merlin’s saggy tits._ “‘Cause that’s gonna go down so well,” Albus muttered under his breath.

He continued to protest as Scorpius manhandled him out of their room, but his heart wasn’t fully in it. He was torn (much like the ‘missing’ jumper lying scrunched up at the bottom of his trunk) because he wanted to stop Scorpius from humiliating himself and potentially souring the already strained relationship they had with their roommates, but at the same time, he couldn’t put up too much of a fight without looking guilty.

The common room appeared to fall silent as they walked over to where their roommates were sat. Albus felt like everyone’s eyes were on them; the assumed scrutiny like a swarm of spiders crawling up and down his spine. Jacob, Malcolm, and Rafe stopped their conversation and watched them expectantly but Albus couldn’t meet their gaze; instead, he stared at the corner of the small, ornate side table and prayed for a swift end to his suffering. 

Guilt churned in his gut. He wished he could think of a way out that didn’t end in embarrassment or… or death, because surely he would die if Scorpius found out he fell asleep hugging his jumper. But even if he did manage to fix the jumper, it was too late to slip it into Scorpius' possessions now. He'd missed his chance. He supposed he could stuff it under one of their roommates' beds, maybe Malcolm's since he's a bit of a dick, but framing someone else for theft and destruction of property was probably a shitty thing to do.

He squirmed as Scorpius explained the jumper situation and then quizzed their roommates about its whereabouts, their whereabouts, their movements since Christmas… and a multitude of other things that were important for reasons only Scorpius knew. He didn’t call them thieves outright, but it was clearly implied by his tone and careful phrasing. To Albus’ great relief, though, they suffered the interrogation without complaint and then returned to the conversation they’d been in the midst of before being interrupted. 

Clearly, six years of sharing a room with him and Scorpius had made them immune to some of their… eccentricities.

“Do you know, I don’t think they were taking me seriously,” Scorpius mused, tapping a finger against his lip.

Albus rolled his eyes. "So, you’re done now, yeah?” He took a couple of steps towards the entrance to the boys’ dorms but faltered when Scorpius didn’t follow. “Scorp? We've got a stack of manga to read and you said you wanted to practice that translation charm.”

"Just a minute Al, I need to get to the bottom of this. If our roommates had nothing to do with it, then maybe it was someone else in our house."

"You're not really going to ask everyone in Slytherin if they've seen your jumper, are you?" _Would this nightmare ever be over? Why did Scorpius have to obsess over everything?_

"Not individually, no."

"What does-- Oh, bloody hell." Albus paled as Scorpius climbed on top of one of the tables at the edge of the common room. A couple of younger students who'd been trying to work tutted and hastily moved their parchment and ink pots out of harm’s way. “Scorpius!” he hissed through gritted teeth, stepping up to the table and tugging on Scorpius’ robe to get his attention. “Get down! People are staring.”

“Let them stare, Albus,” Scorpius said. “Let them stare!” He managed to project his voice enough that the few people who weren’t yet staring at the weird kid on the table, now turned their heads to see what the fuss was about.

Albus thought his face would melt clean off his skull with how hot it felt. He’d be known as Albus the Faceless and his ghost would haunt the Slytherin dungeons forever more, a constant reminder to students of the ultimate price someone had paid for utter mortification.

“Fellow students,” Scorpius proclaimed, and if anyone had been unclear about his pure-blood heritage, there’d be no doubt now. The way he held himself spoke of years of elocution lessons; public speaking a fact of life and a skill to be honed, rather than something to be avoided at all costs. “I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I have to inform you that there has been a theft!” He paused, scanning the room, and Albus wanted nothing more than to drop to the floor and crawl back to his dorm, or into the corridor, or literally anywhere else. He’d willingly have opened one of the dungeon windows to escape into the lake at that point. Merlin. Why did Scorpius have to be so… so extra? Why couldn’t he just accept that he’d misplaced the jumper, and then move on with his life, allowing Albus the opportunity to fix it and sneak it back into his wardrobe once an appropriate amount of time had passed?

But…

But he couldn’t let Scorpius embarrass himself in front of their entire house. They’d not been the social pariahs they once were for a while now--not since before the…the debacle in fourth year, but they were still only just clinging to acceptance by the very tips of their fingers. He couldn’t let Scorpius make a laughing stock of himself when people were finally starting to respect him and see him as the brilliant, kind, funny, and amazing person he was.

He was the best person Albus knew--his favourite person in the entire world--he _had_ to stop this.

“Scorpius!” he hissed, more urgently this time. “Scorpius!”

Scorpius crouched down but didn’t get off the table. “What?”

He swallowed. It was now or never. He was the only person who could save Scorpius from social suicide. “Just get down here,” he urged through clenched teeth. “I need to talk to you.”

“Can’t it wait?”

“No!”

“Well, just give me five minutes. I have to--”

“I took your jumper!” Albus shouted, slapping a hand over his mouth as soon as the words left his lips.

Scorpius slowly clambered off the table without taking his eyes from Albus. “...what?”

Albus looked around at the room. There were still a few curious eyes turned in their direction, but most people had seemingly already lost interest in Scorpius’ little scene. Albus knew they’d be paying full attention the second anything gossip-worthy happened though, and he didn't intend to give them anything extra to look at.

“Can we go upstairs? Please?” he urged, pitching his voice low to avoid unwanted eavesdroppers.

Scorpius looked at him consideringly for a few moments and Albus could tell he was weighing up the likelihood of getting a confession out of Albus once they were alone. They were both aware of how much he liked to deflect and avoid when conversations were tricky. Eventually, though, he huffed out a breath through his nose and rolled his eyes. “Fine,” he said, and wrapped his slender fingers around Albus’ wrist, dragging him down the corridor to their room.

* * * 

Scorpius didn't even give Albus the chance to close the door before rounding on him. “Why did you take it?”

Albus ducked his head to avoid Scorpius’ eyes. He didn’t want to see the horror, the disgust, reflected back at him when he admitted the truth. Would Scorpius ever talk to him again?

"Albus,” Scorpius prompted, his voice softer now. “Why won't you talk to me? What's going on? You watched me pull all my clothes from the wardrobe! You let me accuse our roommates of thievery!" His face blanched. "Albus.. I… I'm going to be a laughing stock!"

"I'm sorry, Scorp, really I am. I… I…” The words caught in his throat. Was there any good way to say ‘I stole your jumper so I could smell you while you were gone because you’re my whole world but I’m not ready to admit it yet’?

"Please, just tell me. Did I do something to upset you?"

"No! Gods, no." Albus took a breath, dragged a sweaty hand through his hair. There was no more putting it off. He could feel Scorpius' eyes boring into the top of his head but he couldn't lift his own to meet his gaze. He didn't want to see the moment Scorpius lost respect for him. “I took your jumper because I wanted something of yours to keep with me over Easter break.”

“Something of mine to keep? Why?”

“BecauseIlikeyouandIwantedsomethingthatsmelledlikeyou.”

“Because…” Scorpius’ eyes narrowed and flicked to the side while he deciphered Albus’ mumbled confession. But then his eyes widened. “Oh.”

“Yeah.” Albus sat down heavily on his bed and pressed his face into his palms. Any second now, Scorpius would stutter out an apology, an explanation as to why he thought they should no longer be friends, and Albus would do his best to hide his feelings as his heart shattered into a thousand pieces.

But there was nothing. Nothing but the everpresent gurgle of water, the muffled conversations of other students in the common room, the soft _scuff scuff_ of Scorpius’ slippers on the flagstones.

Then the bed dipped beside him and he looked around to see Scorpius sitting only centimetres away, studying him, a tremulous smile on his lips.

Albus’ heart leapt into his throat. It certainly didn’t _look_ like a rejection was coming, but he’d been wrong about this sort of thing before...

“I like you too, Albus,” Scorpius said, reaching out and taking hold of one of Albus’ hands. 

He choked back a gasp. _“Really?”_

“Really.”

Scorpius reached out haltingly with his other hand, eyes brimming with uncertainty as they skated over Albus’ face. No doubt he was waiting for a flinch or a cry of horror, but Albus was frozen in place. Scorpius cupped his cheek with a damp, trembling palm. It should feel gross, but Albus leant into the touch, his eyes fluttering shut. A soft breath danced across his lips, and that was all the warning he got before Scorpius’ lips met his with the gentlest of pressure, no more than a mere brushing of skin against skin, but enough to set off fireworks inside Albus. He chased the kiss, desperate for more, and groaned as Scorpius met him again with equal ferocity. There was no hesitation any more.

* * *

“You know, if you wanted to borrow one of my jumpers to cuddle at night, you only had to ask,” Scorpius said, briefly tightening the arm that was currently wrapped around Albus’ chest.

“Yeah, well, it seems obvious _now,_ ” Albus replied, rolling his eyes. He could feel a blush staining his cheeks a deep red again, although it was such a constant state recently, he wasn’t sure his face would ever return to its normal colour.

“So… where is it, anyway?” Scorpius asked. “I’d still like to wear it to your gran’s--especially if we’re going as… boyfriends?” he added hopefully. He raised his head slightly from Albus’ shoulder, looking coyly up at him though blond lashes while toying with the corner of the blanket.

“Ah. Well… please don’t get mad but…” Albus reluctantly untangled himself from Scorpius and slid off the bed. He was fully aware of Scorpius’ gaze tracking his every movement as he rummaged in his trunk until he uncovered the cause of his shame and then tossed it unceremoniously at Scorpius’ head.

“It’s…” Scorpius held up the two raggedy pieces of the jumper and looked between them and Albus in growing confusion. “Oh my gosh, what happened?” 

Albus sighed and sat on the bed with his back to his boyfriend. “James found it under my pillow and was going to tell Dad and Lil and everyone, so I had to get it off him, you know? But when I tried to grab it from him, it kind of… pulled apart. I… I wanted to fix it before I returned it, but I can’t make the stupid darning charm work.”

“Oh.” Scorpius dropped the jumper into his lap and frowned. “Nevermind,” he said, his expression clearing and a broad smile spreading across his face. “I’ll just have to wear one of yours.”

“Yeah?” The word came out barely louder than a whisper. The idea alone of Scorpius in his clothes sent bright sparks of lust dancing down his spine. 

“Yes, it’ll be rather fitting, don’t you think. It might save us from making any sappy announcements. Let people make their own assumptions.”

Albus snorted out a laugh and launched himself at Scorpius, pinning him to the bed. “You’re brilliant, you know that, right?” He closed the distance between them, claiming Scorpius' lips with an ardent kiss. 

Lunch at his Gran’s was looking like it would be much more interesting than usual.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Find me on tumblr @ [coriesocks](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/coriesocks)


End file.
